Fields of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sprinkler, especially to a sprinkler inserted into or mounted on the ground surface for spraying water to a fan shaped area and adjusting water dispersed mode.
Descriptions of Related Art
Refer to U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,285, U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,491, U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,036, U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,372, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,769,633, sprinklers with adjustable outflow are revealed. Generally, the sprinkler includes a housing having one end with an opening and a sprinkler head having an outlet on the housing. The end of the housing with the opening is connected to a water source. A plurality of insertion holes is formed on top surface of a hollow housing and a middle seat with a threaded hole is formed on a center of the housing. The insertion holes are communicating with inner space of the housing. The sprinkler head is connected to and fixed on the housing. The sprinkler head includes an upper cover and a lower cover. An end surface of the upper cover and an end surface of the lower cover are conical. A helical surface is formed on the conical portion. A drop between end points of the helical surfaces is used as a stopper. The upper cover and the lower cover are disposed with a threaded hole respectively. A threaded rod is inserted through the threaded holes to be connected to and mounted in the housing. When the upper cover of the sprinkler is rotated and moved to the end point of the lower cover, the helical surface of the upper cover closes the outlet of the lower cover. At the same time, the two stoppers on the helical surfaces designed at corresponding positions are also leaning against and stopping each other. Due to closing of the outlet by the upper cover, water entering from a bottom end of the housing flows through each insertion hole is unable to be sprayed. This is “non-spray” state. Once the upper cover is rotated in opposite direction, the outlet of the lower cover is opened and a fan angle of the water sprayed can be changed.
Refer to U.S. Pat. No. 6,769,633, a 360-degree sprinkler head is disclosed. The sprinkler head includes a main member, an adjustment ring, a cap and a lock bolt. The sprinkler features on that the main member is a hollow cylinder having an annular member positioned at a center thereof with a plurality of coupling tabs connected to the hollow cylinder and a stepped edge arranged at an upper end of the hollow cylinder. The adjustment ring has a plurality of coupling tines along its lower side conjoined to a round nut constituting a stepped annular member, a helical rib proceeding around the surface opening at the upper end of the annular member, and a beveled surface articulated as an outlet along the inner edge of the helical rib. The cap is a funnel-shaped cover member consisting of a threaded section and a spigot tube sequentially formed at the middle lower section. A passage is passed through the center of the entire cover member, and a plurality of slots disposed at intervals in the outer wall of the spigot tube, with a lip formed along the outer periphery of the spigot tube. The adjustment ring is placed onto said stepped edge of the main member and then the threaded section of the cap is fastened into the round nut on the adjustment ring so that said spigot tube at a lower end of the threaded section is inserted into the annular member of the main member and the lip on the spigot tube engages the lower end surface of the annular member. Thus the main member, the adjustment ring and the cap are integrated into a single unit. Finally the lock bolt is inserted upward through a lower extent of the main member and fastened into the passage to prevent the contraction and upward dislodging of the spigot tube.
However, in the above prior arts, the inner diameter of the lower cap and the diameter of the outlet of the water channel are the same. In other words, the outflow pressure is directly released from the water channel. The outflow pressure is not distributed evenly by the water channel and the amount of water sprayed within the fan angle is not dispersed evenly. Moreover, the width of the circular outflow gap formed by extension of helical surfaces of the upper cap and the lower cap is different. Thus the fan-shaped water spray generated can be powerful or weak.
In order to avoid such condition, the helical surface of the upper cover and the helical surface of the lower cover are disposed with a tooth-like or step-like member respectively. The fan-shaped spray is dispersed evenly by the tooth-like or step-like member. Yet another problem is raised. When curvature of a helical surface of the upper cover and curvature of a helical surface of the lower cover are mot matched well, the two helical surfaces are unable to leaning against each other tightly. Thus the sprinkler is unable to be closed completely and water may leak. Refer to U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,372, an adjustable sprinkler nozzle is revealed. The adjustable sprinkler nozzle includes a cap with a first spiraling face, the bottom edge of which is provided with a stepped flange. A body that forms a nozzle orifice with the cap is composed of upper and lower bodies coupled together. The cap further includes a bottom end thereof and a cylindrical tube positioned at a bottom end of the cap. The cylindrical tube has a threaded outer surface forming a threaded member threadingly coupled with a threaded portion of the lower body. A third spiraling face is formed in proximity to an upper end face of the upper body and is corresponding to the second spiraling face and having an inner diameter engaging with outer diameter of the stepped projecting flange of the cap. Furthermore, a longitudinal drop face formed between the high and low planes of the third spiraling face is provided with a first stop piece projecting upwardly from a highest point thereof. The stop piece is inwardly provided with an inclined face. The inner wall surface of the third spiraling face is provided with a second stop piece relative to the position of the first stop piece. The inner tubular wall of said upper body is provided with a positioning projecting block located at a predetermined position of the inner tubular wall. The adjustable sprinkler nozzle features on that the cap with a first spiraling face, the bottom edge of which is provided with a stepped flange. The inner diameter of the third spiraling face can just be fitted into by the larger outer diameter of the stepped flange of the cap for stopping water flow and prevent water flow from leaking. However, the close fitting between the larger outer diameter of the stepped flange and the third spiraling face may cause difficulties in rotation while adjusting the sprinkler nozzle.